I’m not going to call this a recap so much as a list of all the bad signs that were thrown our way in this episode.

Let me just start with Dean saying he’s not tired after just 2 hours of rest. Does that sound familiar? Say, when Sam was souless and didn’t sleep? Or when he was being hounded by Lucifer ?(Am I the only one that misses Lucifer? He was great. Well in the Joffery Lannister sense of the word, “great.”) All I’m saying is that sleeplessness has never boded well for these boys.

Second thing is Gadreel questioning Metatron’s actions. This isn’t so much bad for the boys as much as just a sign that not all is great in Team Metatron. Now that we know that Metatron’s “plan” to influence the other angels was to blow up the leader of this other group and blame it on Castiel the exchange between him and Gadreel is obviously manipulative.

Thirdly I found it a bad sign that Dean and Sam made so much progress tracking down the angel that was the suspected mole. The angels are somewhat idiotic, but should know how to track someone down. This just very publicly led to embarrassment for Cas which wasn’t so helpful for his cause. Planting seeds of doubt for Metatron’s later accusations (so are there even more angel’s in Cas’s army working for Metatron by undermining Cas’s authority?)

Now we’ve moved on to Dean’s anger. I don’t think anyone believed that Dean walked off and left the First Blade in the bunker. Cas seems to know something a little more about the Mark and the First Blade then we do. We are getting longer and longer glimpses at the amount of power and anger that Dean has bottled up inside him these days and it ain’t pretty,

I think Tessa’s death/suicide shocked Dean a little bit though. Tessa reminded him of a time in his life that was both painful and special to him. He met Tessa when he was dying (the first time) and when his family was finally moving in the right direction (until suddenly it wasn’t). I had hope for a minute that this would snap Dean out of it, but then. . . nope. The look on his face was disturbing right after he killed her. He definitely got something out of it and it looks like we’ll learn more about that next week.

I really really liked Tessa’s character so I’m sad to see her killed off in this way. Also Reapers weren’t straight up angels were they? I can kinda buy that they were affected by the spell since Heaven is closed now, but I wish that they would have addressed this a little.

Now Cas is set up perfectly for his fall. Metatron tells enough of the truth to make all the lies about Cas seem legit, he’s asked to kill Dean (which we know would never happen), and he’s been framed for some really heinous acts. Brown headed angel seems super shady to me. She seems to support Cas throughout the episode, but she’s the first one to suggest killing someone to prove his innocence. That just seems counter-intuitive. To the point that I think she was Metatron’s plant all along.

Which brings us to the most perfect moment of the show. Yes Castiel. Yes, the three of you will be enough. Of course they’ve had Bobby helping them in the past, but I’m sure they’ll figure it out this time around. The three of them are the only ones they can trust so that’s the safest bet anyway.

Oh yeah– about just the three of them. So Dean is seriously having control issues when it comes to who he should try to kill or not. Maybe Gadreel wasn’t who he needed to cut at that moment. Of course he also saw Gadreel’s murder of Kevin as his own fault so he justifiably has anger issues concerning Gadreel. The anger and the craziness on Dean’s face here is intense.

A few loose ends:

Dean’s declaration that he is now running a dictatorship also doesn’t bode well for his storyline at the moment. He needs to have a talk with Rick about how that works out.

Will Castiel be the one to save Dean after all? I’ve thought it was going to be Sam this whole time, but maybe it will be Cas.

I’ve questioned the whole Mark of Cain thing and how it will affect Sam since the beginning. We see in the previews Sam getting between Dean and someone he’s trying to kill which could potentially be bad news for Sam. I guess we’ll find out soon.

Well next week is it! The season finale is quickly approaching which hopefully means we will get some answers then as well.

Ahhhhh, it’s nice to be back to the real thing. I hope all the best for Bloodlnes, but I missed my Supernatural. We started off this episode seeing Abaddon capture Crowley’s son and bring him the present time. Now we saw Bobby do something similar a few years ago with laughable results so I had my doubts about Abaddon’s plan. Now that he has an humanity issue evidently he loves his son again? OK I’ll buy it, a little. Best part of this exchange? His son trying to figure out what was going on.

Although the Abaddon/Crowley storyline is probably supposed to be the main thing we, as viewers, are supposed to focus on, but I’m still trying to figure out the Castiel story.

He calls the boys in to finesse the truth out of one of Metatron’s soldiers and they do it artfully. At first I thought Dean was going to go all Mark of Cain/Hell’s #1 torturer on him, but instead they did what they do best: they worked together. I do wonder if Dean was seriously wanting to torture Ezra and then just picked up on Sam’s lead and played the dude. I did find the interrogation Bugs Bunny ish, but if you remember back to when Castiel first showed up he was gullible and childlike.

We also saw Dean and Sam’s interactions with Castiel. Yep something still feels off here. I still think that Metatron screwed with Cas’s head the last time they met and either he’s following Metatron’s orders unknowingly or Metatron is still at that typewriter controlling everything, Chuck style. Either way Cas thinks he’s doing the right thing, and it appears that Gadreel is doubting the rightness of his actions now.

Dean also showed off his insanity where the First Blade is concerned. He’s daydreaming about the First Blade, manipulating things with Sam to ensure that he gets to use the First Blade and willing to go through a lot to get the Blade back. We see Dean not giving up the Blade after his fight with Abaddon and his One Ring type obsession with the thing and I wonder what channeling all that power from the First Blade to get away from her control did to him. Just holding it before brought on all those feelings and dreams what will fully harnessing it’s power do?

That’s some serious power. Which usually means some serious consequences. Think back to Sam killing Lilith. He also had “phenomenal cosmic power!”, but also was addicted to demon blood so there’s that. The big question still hangs over all of this too. Cain killed his brother. Will Dean try to kill Sam? Cause that would suck.

He kinda scared me with his super stabbing action:

I think the first 10 stabs did it by the way.

Here are a few loose ends:

1. I’m glad Crowley got to save his son, but think about what happened when the Titanic was saved. Of course the Doctor saves people all the time so maybe they’re all good.

2. We still have Metatron up to no good, but I think we’ll find out a lot more about that next week. Maybe a trip to Heaven means a visit with Ash or Bobby? Hey a girl can dream right?

3. Dean isn’t giving up the First Blade which doesn’t seem like good news to me. Probably something messed up there. However, can the First Blade kill Metatron? Can he fight back against him now that he’s accessed the power of it?

4. Sam is still whining and crying. How about stop complaining that Dean is always trying to save you and figure out that Dean needs some saving himself?

5. Why do they still want to kill Crowley? Seriously he seems like the best option they have for the leader of Hell.

So we’ll see what messed up stuff is happening with the Angels next week which from the previews promises to be some messed up crap.

Wow. There were so many great things about this episode, but let me say I seriously thought when I saw someone typing on a typewriter that Chuck was back (aka God). After all he was around during the apocalypse it would make sense that he showed back up during this craziness.

Alas it was just Metatron being a douche as always. He goes on a shpeal about stories and subtext (seriously I could hear the Destiel shippers cheer from my house) and then it jumps into the episode. Of course this was more important than I thought it was at the time, but we’ll get back to that later.

Most likely I was distracted from Metatron’s doucheiness by this glorious scene. And yes I’m posting the whole photo set, because you deserve to see it again.

Yeah out of all the fan service in this episode I am most thankful for this jewel. Dean you can be moody all you want. . .while showering.

The episode continues to set up like a pretty good episode. Metatron is using Gadreel to gather angels and then kill them, the boys are hunting him with Cas’s help and then it starts to get even more interesting. Just as Cas is loading up to go search for Gadreel the lights flicker and the TV switches on. OK right then I began to hope/suspect that Gabriel was back and then once I heard the Casa Erotica music I did squeal, and text my friends/brother to verify they were seeing it too (they were “working”??). I didn’t realize how much I missed Gabriel (and Lucifer and Zachariah etc), but I was super excited to see where this was going.

I should have known that it was too good to be true. Gabriel back just when we need/want help. What REALLY clued me in that something was wrong was that he started talking about how he was there to lead the resistance and how he just wanted to help this time. Even when he DID help last time he was reluctant and that involved stuff a lot closer to home. I definitely knew something was seriously wrong when he mentioned that Cas was low on gas randomly while not even looking at the gas gauge. What I wasn’t expecting was that Metatron was in Cas’s head this entire time making him see what he wanted to see.

I wasn’t so impressed with Metatron downloading all the Pop Culture that he could to Cas’s brain. I like my Cas clueless as to what is going on around him. We’ll see if that become as annoying as it has potential to be. I really hope not. Metatron also threw around a bunch of crap about how he was a hero and Cas was a villain which leads me to believe that he’s super insane.

OK I’ll come back to the Cas and Metatron story line in a moment.

While Metatron and Cas have been doing their thing Dean and Sam have captured Gadreel and Sam quickly loses control while they try to question him. I know I’ve mentioned how much I love the actor playing Gadreel before, but seriously. I loved Tahmoh Penikett in Dollhouse and am loving him in this too. I do think he’s trying to redeem himself, but has just aligned himself with the wrong guy. If he’d met Cas first and really truly partnered with the boys I think he would have ended up one of the good guys.

Dean takes over the torture/interrogation and he lets the scary out a bit.

Gadreel pushed all the right buttons with Dean (Daddy, Sam, loneliness, etc) trying to get him to kill him (once again I think he just wants an end to the guilt and pain he’s felt since the fall of man), but Dean realizes what’s going on before hand. We get another thoughtful bathroom scene from Dean ending with him casually (and in a super scary fashion) confidently walk out of the bathroom twirling the angel blade in his hand and forgetting his cell phone next to the sink. Yeah that’s not bad.

Speed up to Sam finding out that Metatron has Cas and wants to trade him for Gadreel which has Sam speeding back to Dean before Dean can kill Gadreel. Dean of course isn’t answering the phone and Gadreel is no where to be seen when Sam rushes into the warehouse. We are supposed to assume that Dean got out of control and killed Gadreel, but I have to say I didn’t fall for it. Dean after all tortured people in Hell for years so yeah I believe he would inflict pain on Gadreel, but do I think he would release him from his trap? No.That’s what he wanted so that’s the last thing he’s going to get. However I do wonder at his muddled speech and confusion when Sam finds him slumped on the floor. Is that from the Mark of Cain? Or is he just worn out from torturing an angel? I’m assuming the former.

They make the trade with Metatron, but their trap they set fails miserably. Metatron is making the age old mistake of telling the other people his master plan with the assumption they can do nothing to stop them. Evidently reading all the Supernatural books didn’t clue him in that it takes a hell of a lot to stop the Winchesters.

Back at the motel they are parting ways with Cas (why exactly I’m not sure. Shouldn’t they be working together? I can understand to an extent, but it seems like it should be time to regroup and plan). Cas comments on Dean’s well being and Dean gives him an awkward shoulder pat which resulted in this:

I think that Dean wanted Cas to find out. It’s like when you get a tattoo and then “accidentally” show it off. Yes he knew that Cas would probably disapprove, but I also think that he knows Cas hill want to help him get rid of it when the time comes. I feel us inching closer and closer to Sam eating his words about how he’d let Dean die if the tables were turned.

Lastly we found out earlier that Metatron’s end game this go round was to get Cas to lead the rebellious angels and Cas repeatedly refused to do this. So why does the closing scene show Cas drawing the Horn of Gabriel and calling all the angels to his side? We also see Metatron typing this scene on his typewriter with a satisfied smirk on his face. So is Metatron controlling Cas? Or is Metatron just seeing what is going on and is happy about it? Maybe Cas is going to put Hannah in charge? I cannot believe that Cas would willingly take the deal unless it was to save the boys. Even then I don’t see it happening.

And can we talk about how much it pissed me off that Metatron spelled Cas “Cass”—- umm no. Cas is short for Castiel, he’s not Mama Cass. Overall though this was an amazing episode and the writers killed it (along with all of my feelings) and the actors weren’t too shabby either. I’m excited to see where it’s going from here until the season finale.

These boys don’t know how to let go do they? OK let me rephrase: Dean doesn’t know how to let go of Sam. Season 1 their dad sells his soul to save Dean and leaves Dean wracked with guilt. Then in season 2 Dean sells his soul to bring Sam back from the dead and then they spend a bunch of time trying to fix that. Oh wait, then his whole “getting dragged to hell” thing caused even more issues. Yet, while Dean was in Hell and during “Mystery Spot” were the only times that Sam really worked to get Dean back. My theory? It hurts too much. Or perhaps Sam has decided it hurts others too much.

As always SPOILERS AHEAD!

Dean’s visit to hell caused the Apocalypse and Sam’s visit to Hell caused him to be a soulless jerk for over a year. Now his Gadreel possession has cost Kevin Tran his life. (From the view of the writers though, Kevin had to die in order to get Crowley back out there. There is no way that Kevin would have agreed to letting Crowley go). I will say that the desire to stay alive has cost the world and both the boys so much and if I was Sam I’d be questioning this as well. (Now don’t get me wrong– I love this show and don’t want the boys to die, but I can see why they would want to die).

OK getting back to this episode though Kevin is dead, Dean is left to deal with the guilt and clean up the mess. Then of course make some more mess with a very manly display of anger. The interactions between Dean and Cas this episode are pretty great though. It’s nice to see them back together not (really) keeping secrets from each other and working towards a goal.

Cas supports Dean even though really Dean did screw a bunch of crap up. Usually we see Dean in this position. After all Cas tried to become God and then screwed up even worse by trying to make amends for all the wrong he did. Which made his comments to Dean mean that much more meaningful.

Dean didn’t really buy it, but it was at least enough to get him working towards a goal again. Which brings us back to Gadreel.

Part of me feels sorry for Gadreel. He is getting played hardcore by Metatron. I can’t help but think that if Metatron hadn’t come along and fed him a bunch of crap that Gadreel really would have healed Sam and then moved along. My hope? That Gadreel will realize how full of it Metatron is and will take him out. That would slightly make up for what he has done to Dean, Sam and Kevin. Slightly. Just a tiny bit.

Surely he has to be second guessing his choices. I predict that killing his friend will eat away at him and this will start him on the road to take down Metatron. After all who can forget this face?

Moving on. I loooooove, love, love Crowley as the good bad guy and it looks like we are going to see even more of this. On a side note I think this show does an amazing job with the image of the demon and angel possessions. This moment was pretty cool to watch:

and also this line:

Look at Dean, trying so hard to make it right, yet still get his way. I never had a doubt that as soon as Sam realized what was going on that he would be able to kick Gadreel out. I wonder if now that he’s not possessed if he will be able to shed light on Gadreel’s real personality and if he will remember what Metatron did and said to control him. The boys break ups never lasts too long so I’m sure we’ll find out soon.

I will also be judging how Sam handles what Dean did and what Dean said when he left him. Dean would have gotten angry, stormed off, and then gone and found Sam again and done whatever it took to make sure that he was OK. Will Sam walk away and leave Dean to his depression? They are obviously back together by the next episode, but I wonder who initiated that contact.

Now to address the Crowley/Abaddon dynamic. All I will say is Crowley will crush her and I will enjoy watching every second. Anyone that says otherwise is selling something.

I also enjoyed this graphic:

This season is such a huge improvement over season 8 that it makes me super excited to see what is coming next and I can’t even express how excited I am to see that Tahmoh Penikett looks like he is going to be back for a while. I loved him on Dollhouse (and Smallville) and am excited to see what he brings to Gadreel. I know we are going to be introduced to Cain (as in Cain and Able) this season AND they are planning a spin off around episode 20 (which makes me half excited and half apprehensive). I think we are going to keep seeing this season get better and things are always better when Crowley is helping them out.